We are becoming Sustainibillys

My husband and I have always been interested in energy efficiency, but other than building a home with polyurethane blocks we did not take the extra steps in our daily lives to use up, reuse, recycle or be self sufficient.  This changed in 2006 when the economy started to collapse and the company I worked for closed its doors.

Knowing that rapid change leads to failure, my husband and I put together a 10 year plan to become a Sustainibilly.  What is a Sustainibilly you ask?  It is a person(s) who works to become self-sufficient, along with leaving (I hate this term) a smaller footprint on earth.

We began our journey purchasing 2 1/2 acres of land in a temperate climate where we can eventually build a home that won't require the need to provide 300 days of cooling.  This seems contrary to sustaining lifestyle by not retrofitting our current home, but by building a new home, we can use the natural resources to heat and cool our home, using less energy provided by APS.

My husband has been diligently researching alternative building products that would provide a higher R value then the normal 2x6 frame build.  Solar, wind and geothermal technologies will be used to create energy to turn the lights on, heat and cool, and cook.

Our goal is to live off the grid, grow our fruits and vegetables and raise animals for food. Being a city dweller and grocery store shopper, to prepare ourselves we have joined a permaculture and rare fruit growers groups and attended classes through the county extension office.  We have started a garden using tree boxes made from recycled wood as the garden bed so that we can take them with us when we move in five years.  More on the garden later.

Today we were told the well driller is at 90' and hopes to be at 120' by next week.  Once the well is in we can start planting the fruit and nut trees. I am so excited to begin this journey.